Perhaps his most infwuentiaw pubwication is "Tewwing more dan we can know: Verbaw reports on mentaw processes" (wif T. D. Wiwson, 1977, Psychowogicaw Review, 84, 231–259), one of de most often cited psychowogy articwes pubwished, wif over 13,000 citations.[2][3] This articwe was de first comprehensive, empiricawwy based argument dat a variety of mentaw processes responsibwe for preferences, choices, and emotions are inaccessibwe to conscious awareness. Nisbett and Wiwson contended dat introspective reports can provide onwy an account of "what peopwe dink about how dey dink," but not "how dey reawwy dink."[citation needed] Some cognitive psychowogists disputed dis cwaim, wif Ericsson and Simon (1980) offering an awternative perspective.[4]

Nisbett's book The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differentwy... And Why (Free Press; 2003) contends dat "human cognition is not everywhere de same," dat Asians and Westerners "have maintained very different systems of dought for dousands of years,"[5] and dat dese differences are scientificawwy measurabwe.
Nisbett's book Intewwigence and How to Get It: Why Schoows and Cuwtures Count (2009) argues dat environmentaw factors dominate genetic factors in determining intewwigence. The book reviewed extensive favorabwe attention in de press and from some fewwow academics;[6] for exampwe, University of Pennsywvania psychowogist Daniew Osherson wrote dat de book was a "hugewy important anawysis of de determinants of IQ". On de oder hand, more criticaw reviewers argued dat de book faiwed to grappwe wif de strongest evidence for genetic factors in individuaw and group intewwigence differences.[7]

Wif Edward E. Jones, he named de actor–observer bias, de phenomenon where peopwe acting and peopwe observing use different expwanations for why a behavior occurs.[8] This is an important concept in attribution deory, and refers to de tendency to attribute one's own behaviour to situationaw factors, oder peopwe's behaviour to deir disposition, uh-hah-hah-hah. Jones and Nisbett's own expwanation for dis was dat our attention is focussed on de situation when we are actors, but on de person when we are observers, awdough oder expwanations have been advanced for de actor-observer bias.